Khaosan Rd Is It Worth A Visit ?

[IreMark]

It's funny watching all of the people diss KSR because it really is a great place and any first time go'ers should certainly not be put off by these insane comments. You meet alot of interesting and nice people on KSR.

[Neeranam]

Backpackers central, silver shops , book shops , hippy town , no girls...unless you're into sweaty farang ones. No you can't take the skytrain , you'll need a cab

Take the no 2 bus or the air 511.

[weasel]

The gals down there play a game that they call 'Choosing Your Backpacker for the Night'

One word of warning from the wise however. If you're new in town, that tall Thai goddess across the way might not be a woman, larger hands and perfect posture are dead giveaways

[The Mask]

The gals down there play a game that they call 'Choosing Your Backpacker for the Night' 

One word of warning from the wise however. If you're new in town, that tall Thai goddess across the way might not be a woman, larger hands and perfect posture are dead giveaways 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Its probably worth mentioning that the 'Choosing Your Backpacker for the Night' game almost always entails finding a naive farang for the night to pick up the tab for you and your friends and then going home to your worthless Thai boyfriend who has been drinking and playing computer games all day.

I would recommend the Khaosan Road if you can speak thai as you can have hours of personal amusement listening to the young thai girls planning their night of money extraction right infront of their 'hot farang dates'. As you can imagine even more fun can be had if your creative, I had devised a list of games - only fluent speakers may apply

[Jockstar]

One word of warning from the wise however. If you're new in town, that tall Thai goddess across the way might not be a woman, larger hands and perfect posture are dead giveaways 

Speaking from experience weasel? Once bitten twice guy.

[weasel]

One word of warning from the wise however. If you're new in town, that tall Thai goddess across the way might not be a woman, larger hands and perfect posture are dead giveaways 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Speaking from experience weasel? Once bitten twice guy.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think I read it on the back of my Rice Crispies ceral packet this morning at breakfast. Ho-hum!

[baht&sold]

It's funny watching all of the people diss KSR because it really is a great place and any first time go'ers should certainly not be put off by these insane comments. You meet alot of interesting and nice people on KSR.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I concur. My Dad was here recently and since I'm a lousy tour guide, I took the easy out and took him over to KSR. I hadn't been there in ages and even I was surprised. Loads of middle age farang couples, families with kids even and yes, the 'never say die' dreadlocked/fish pant wearing backpackers were in evidence too, but seemingly in much smaller #s. After dusk, all the Thai's come to look at the few remaining freaky farang's on parade. Good eats, great scene and a nice break from Sukhumvit for a day/night out.

All in all, my Pop loved it and even went back on his own the following day and returned loaded up with thai souvenier stuff, which he said was even a better bargain than Chatuchak (where we were a few days before). Hope he still feels that way when the stuff he bought ends up in their next garage sale....

[The Gentleman Scamp]

If you've never been then it's worth a visit yes.

The area (Banglumpoo) seems to be the only place where it is not possible to buy alcohol at a 7-Eleven after midnight, or is it 2am?

The reason for this is because the area does attract a huge volume of &lt;deleted&gt;, &lt;deleted&gt;, and idiots from all of the aforementioned catagories - who don't know their limits when it comes to the booze.

It's a great place for a 1st timer, but nowadays it makes me feel old - and I'm only a couple of months away from 31.

[Girlfrombar]

the best way to go to KSR from Suk Rd., is to take a bus: normal NO.2 / air-con NO. 511 at the EVEN SOI side..........

my house is near KSR & that area, been seeing the changes from time to time

still in love with that road

but love it less than used to be...

yes it's worth a visit

why not?

[baht&sold]

If anyone has any high quality KSR songkran scene photos, pls pm.

Thx, daniel

[Neeranam]

I arrived at KSR 13 years ago during Songran. A great time was had!!

I went there last year to visit my cousins, and it was a nightmare!!

Maybe I have changed, well obviously I have.

One thing I noticed was the amount of Thais, all around the place, thousands of them. totally disrepecting farang, throwing water in my face etc.

If you can speak thai, it is best to stay away IMO.

[Jockstar]

I still go to KSR often. But i do get many friends who come visit. I cant believe the bad rep that some people give it. It ok. If you know where to go. Maybe you are all getting old?

[Shola]

I went to Khao San on a whim the other day, started in China Town then got a cab.

I havn't set foot in the place for about 2 years and I can't believe that they've managed to cram even more stalls on the streets and a fair few new bars have sprung up to!

It was ok, they've still got the old 'come and get your fake dreadlock' stall but it seems the quality of whats on offer has gone up. Walked into to Gullivers at 4pm playing ultra loud limp Biscuit, walked out again!

Went back later after a few bears to numb my ears to the 90 decibel tunes!

All in all not as bad as I thought it would be!

Well worth a visit now and again!

[Dara]

KSR is part of a very old Bkk that has gone touristic without being totally razed and rebuilt. However, more and more places have now been torn down or renovated, and the old Thai way of life which used to be a main attaction in the area has been replaced by restaurants offering western foods, cheap tourist trinkets, as well as being known for drugs and alcohol.

That said, if you want to get a feel of the old Bkk, the Banglampoo area still has much of that left. You can still get some food and other products offerred by street vendors or small shops that have pretty much been forgotten in the headlong rush to modernize Bkk. Some Thais still go there to get specialty foods or buy old fashion party favors in bulk, etc. Cheap price has always been the area's reputation.

In terms of touristing, it depends on what you want to see and how comfortable you are being in a very crowded place - not much allowance for personal space there. Some people may find it intriguing, some not...

[ProfessorFart]

KSR is well worth a visit. It has a certain buzz about it and is a top place for Euroflange. As soon as they change all of the grim doss houses and make them into nice places to stay then I'll be there.

[taxexile]

Euroflange.

are you inferring that those who want to go on a minge binge , catch some gash , push some bush , use some cooze or play a tune on some poon should head on down there. ???

[lostsoul]

If you have never been then see for yourself, bit of a buzz with crowds that have other things to do (not the usual moans from stupid farang about the live ins they have bought).

[baht&sold]

BTW, uocoming April edition Thailand Connect mag article on KSR Songkran attached (120 kb).

Thanks go to John over at KSR.com

But... will I be on KSR for Songkran??? Not a chance

First timers, hit it!

Cheers!

Daniel

TC_KSR.pdf

Edited March 24, 2005 by bahtandsold

[meadish_sweetball]

Shitty service is very common in the KSR area, this has been the same for over 10 years. It is irritating, but can in a way can be refreshing if you compare it to the void plastic smiles of the waitresses at some other places in Thailand where the staff have been through service training and behave like robots.

Some of the places catering to the hip(?) Thais who want to be seen near strange-looking farang but would never dream of talking to a farang now actually serve good Thai food, if you like to be around the Thai yuppie crowd with their fascinating insights in life. Tom Yum Kung restaurant is a case in point. The guesthouses on the actual KSR typically have the most appalling food standard you can find anywhere in Thailand. Across the temple grounds towards the river and one block away is Phra Athit Road, a hang-out for the Thai "alternative" students and artist/musician crowd (the bars around Chatuchak Weekend Market is the other area that attracts this crowd), mainly students from Sinlapakorn Art College. The food here is generally very high quality, but prices have started to climb lately.

The punters here who slag KSR off as a hippie street obviously havent seen what has happened there in the past three years.

It used to be quite an interesting and seedy place with lots of weird drop-outs, criminals on the run from Western justice and generally crazy things happening all the time. And refreshingly void of fat Sexpats 3 times older and heavier than their little brown Isarn partner-for-the-week, but nowadays the odd fat old Sexpat is known to stand drooling over khatoeys at Gulliver's and trying to look young and dance along when they play an Oasis tune.

Lots of the old buildings have been torn down and replaced with functional-style multi-story guesthouses with tolerable standards of living but very little soul.

There are still a lot of conceited travellers around, just like before, but the street and general area is a lot more diverse than some of the previous posters have made it out to be.

As previous posters said, DONT go there for Songkran, Songkran truly sucks at KSR (and in Bangkok in general).

[bossman]

I was at Khao san road for the first time a couple weeks ago and I have to throw in my two baht and agree that it's a pretty shitty place. It's interesting for about the first hour before you realize that it's a backpacker themed disney land with dreadlocks. The travellers aren't even the most annoying thing about KS road it's the Thais with their shitty jaded attitudes. I received the rudest service on KS road by far but I suppose if you had to deal with trashy smelly people daily you'd be pissed too. I can't imagine why anyone would want to stay in a guesthouse there. The pollution, noise, and smell is worse there than in most parts of Bangkok and that's saying a lot. Also the scams fly fast and furious around KS road I witnessed ticket scams, money changer scams, travel scams, and sketchy tuk tuks galore.